Arachnophobia
by hmw95
Summary: During a fight, one of the brothers is injured. But not by any normal injury. As he gets sicker and sicker, the remaining brothers must race to find a cure... But how do you cure a bite from something the world knows nothing about?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: I need to bring up new ideas. I seem to be more motivated if I have more than one story to worry about. Soooo… This came up. I was watching some Animal Planet show about spider venom and everything, and suddenly my mind said, 'HALEY! This is brilliant!'. I listened though!)

Leo POV

I lifted the weights slowly and didn't care when my arm shook. This is the heaviest I've lifted since I got sick.

Yeah, I was sick…

It got pretty bad, too. At its peak I couldn't even move. But I am pretty healed up. My immune system took a toll, but it's slowly rebuilding itself each day. I've gone outside a few times, but the few times I've gone I've gotten a cold. Don said he didn't want me to become sick again so I haven't gone out for over a week now.

I think I might need to go out soon though. I've been going crazy, having to deal with everything at home. I need some room to breathe.

I set down the weight and wiped my sweating forehead. I heard clapping behind me. Raph stood there, with a smile on his face. I could actually see it was genuine, too.

"Good job bro." He said. I nodded, and then turned away. "Look I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." I replied. My tone was still husky after not being able to talk for over a month or two.

"Really. I am. I should have taken you more seriously the first time you complained of an ache. I should have taken the message… I mean, you never complain… It's all my fault it got as bad as it did…" He apologized. I was taken aback. Why was he saying this?

"Raph… Don said it would have gotten as bad as it did anyways. It's more my fault, for taking on that solo mission."

"Wait, what solo mission?" He asked.

"There was a fire in a medical facility. I helped the sick people get out. I contracted their germs and their sicknesses all bundled up into one big illness that I hosted." I explained.

"That really explains a lot." He answered to my story. I looked to the ground and sighed. Just as I did that, Mikey came bursting into the room.

"Guys, there's trouble." He warned. Raph looked to me and I ran to the living room. The news was on.

"This just in, there has been a break in at the Arachnology building in the Animal Research Facility of New York. We have one of the scientists with us now." The newswoman said, nearly panicked. The screen showed a scientist who was clearly terrified.

"They raided the building just as I was leaving. I got out just in time. I was researching a new spider that was found in Australia. I do not know how, but it somehow lives in a ocean habitat. From what we have gotten on it so far, it is the most venomous spider we _have _seen. Also, the criminals were dressed in assassin-like clothing and were following an armored man. I do not know what this means… But it can only spell trouble." The man spoke. The display showed the woman again.

"We will keep updates as they come… Now in weather…" She continued. But I could not bear to listen. It was the Shredder. I knew it. We needed to go and fight.

I walked to a stand in which my katanas were placed, sheathed. I have not held them since I was bed ridden. I set my hand beside them.

"Are we going to help?" Raph's voice struck right my trance.

"Leo shouldn't. He is not yet fully healed." Don said. I felt anger bubble inside of me.

"I am going no matter what you said. It is Shredder. People can _die_." I replied. I assured myself with that sentence and I pulled on the swords onto my back.

"But Leo…" Don started. But I headed to the door. Raph pulled my shoulder and I looked to him.

"Leo, we're coming with you. You aren't trying that solo crap ever again." He told me. I nodded and ran out the door, my brothers trailing behind me.

We arrived as stealthily as we could at the Arachnology Building, with all the police cars surrounding it. We snuck into a window and crept into the main room of the floor we were on. It was pitch black. But something wasn't right. I unsheathed my swords. At that moment, the lights turned on. I squinted at the whiteness now surrounding me.

The Shredder and a fleet of Foot Ninja stood ahead of us.

"Ah, Leonardo… You survived that horrible sickness. Too bad all that hard work on getting better was a waste. You will be killed Leonardo, by my hand, tonight." I snarled and glared at him. I haven't been this angry in a long time. "Or are you too weak to fight me?" I felt my hands shake in anger.

"You really shouldn't have said that…" I whispered, huskily in my new voice. My brothers looked surprised at my anger. I looked to Raph and nodded. I got into position.

Multiple voices yelled the same thing at the same time:

"Attack!"


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N: Still working on things. This story actually has some kind of rise in the plot… I guess… Make sure you go on my Author Profile and take my poll… It means A LOT… Also, the chapter is kind of short… But don't mind… It shows a lot…)

Leo POV

As that one, powerful word was thrown out, I lunged. I fought through hoards of ninjas, and I made it through to the one person that I need to fight.

The Shredder.

I saw my brothers making their way to us. I gave my best glare that my eyes could handle to my opponent.

"You really think you will be able to beat me, Leonardo?! You struggled with my ninja, just imagine you against me!" An evil laugh escaped his throat. I clenched my teeth at the thought of the things I would do to him if I weren't so weak. "These ninjas' strength is _inferior _to mine. I could tear you to _bits _Leonardo…" At that threat, I jumped toward him. He swiftly kicked me away and I landed on the ground with the breath knocked out of me.

"So…" I gasped for air. "Are you going to kill me…?" I breathed heavily, laid on my shell, his him right above me. "You coward…" I whispered. His eyes widened at that name.

"I will never allow my enemies to call me a _coward_… And for the question, it would be my pleasure…" He raised his claw above my head. I saw one of my swords about two feet from my hand. He brought his claw down and I could hear my own heart beating with the suspense.

…I grabbed my sword and held it horizontally, my right hand holding the razor sharp blade. I felt blood ooze down my arm and drip onto my chest even before he hit the sword. When he hit the sword, I felt like screaming. It was so painful… I dropped my sword beside me once my opponent realized I blocked his kill strike. He backed away. I picked my sword up with my hand that wasn't injured and sheathed it beside the other one. I breathed hard, trying to keep my mind off of my hand, which pain flared.

"Leonardo… That wasn't very smart, was it?" He came over to me and kicked me once again. This time, I flew to the back of the room. A tank broke and glass was everywhere. Water soaked my hand and made it sting. I looked down to it and saw bone underneath all the blood. I spotted some cloth beside me and I grabbed it and tied it around my wound. I felt something… Crawling on my arm.

I looked to the spot I felt it moving, and sure enough, a spider was there. It was small, but it looked a Daddy Long Leg spider. Except it was soaked with water and was black with a red 'X' on its back. I froze for a second, but then it sunk its fangs into my skin. I felt a burning sensation fill my entire body for a few seconds, then nothing. I turned and saw that the spider fell off, looking dead.

I slowly got to my feet, and the room was clear. My brothers surrounded me.

"They ditched." Mike gasped. Don's eyes went wide and he grabbed the wrist of my right hand.

"Leo, what did you do??!" He freaked.

"I didn't have a choice, Donatello. I had to grab the blade of my katana to block myself…" I tried to explain. Don's eyes widened more.

"You grabbed the blade of _your _katana??! The ones you sharpen every day?! What were you thinking??!" He yelled. I rolled my eyes and set myself to a glare at him.

"It depends, would you rather me be here alive with an injured hand or being dead with my head placed on a mantle in the Shredder's home??!" I snapped. Don was taken aback, and was silent.

"We better head out, guys. They're starting to come in." Raph warned. I nodded and led the way out.

They didn't notice anything about the bite.

Good.

_**Meanwhile outside with an interview with the scientist…**_

"If you are one of the ones who broke in and are watching this, please go to a hospital right away if you have been bitten by any of the spiders. Especially the new spider we discovered. The venom is made to kill you slowly, but very painfully. It will seem like a cold at first, but it will eventually get to the point where your heart will no longer beat… If you last that long. The last person who got bitten committed suicide to escape the pain. There hasn't been an anti-venom developed yet, but we will work on it." The scientist told the world through a microphone.

"What is the spider called? What does it look like?" The interviewer asked.

"The spider is called 'Venom X' for its dangerous venom and the 'X' is because the spider is black… With a red 'X' on its back…"


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N: How am I supposed to explain this situation? Ummm… I messed my hand up pretty badly. I can only type with one hand… And if you haven't noticed, that is pretty hard to do… So don't mind crappy typing.)

Leo POV

"I can't believe you did that, Leo." Don said, disappointment in his tone.

"Well, I didn't have a choice, did I?" I snapped back. He glared.

"You could have done it differently, you could have moved out of the way, you could've done a lot else! You didn't have to grab the blade of your katana! You could be here, alive and well, without an injury in your hand that goes all the way down to your bone!" He argued back.

"No I couldn't have! He was standing over me with his gauntlet in my FACE! If I didn't do what I did there, then I wouldn't be here with you right now, and you would regret EVER saying ANYTHING about me doing something else! I am still alive with this! It's just an INJURY! I could've came out with MUCH worse, Don! Don't you see that??!" I yelled.

"Well maybe you could have at least…" He was about to go off even more, but was cut off.

"Will you both just SHUT IT???! Leo is alive, and we should just be thankful of that. We don't need to argue over things that could've played out differently, because it has already happened and is DONE WITH. Let's go home, fix ourselves up, and get some sleep!" Mike shouted.

Don and I were silent for the rest of the way home. When we got back, we made small talk while he fixed me up, and I went to bed comfortably.

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I woke up, and the first thing I noticed was that my nose was stuffed up and my throat was more sore than ever. I shouldn't have expected less. Every time I go out I catch a stupid cold nowadays.

I walked into the kitchen and rubbed my bandaged hand against my tired eyes and winced as that slight pressure gave pain to me.

"Good afternoon, Leo." Mike greeted me.

"Afternoon?! What time is it?" They let me sleep in?? How could they? And why am I still tired?

"It is… 2." He checked the clock on our wall.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?" I asked.

"Well, we tried and you wouldn't budge. Besides, Don said your hand was too bad to practice anyways, and also you kept coughing really hard… Got another cold, do you?" He asked. I nodded. A silence fell upon us.

"So… Where are the others?" I questioned, breaking the awkward quietness.

"Well… They are in practice. I couldn't grace them with my presence because I got a bum shoulder that got dislocated last night. It has to heal up first." He answered, and then I noticed the sling he was using to hold his right arm still. "How's the hand feeling?"

"Fine." I answered, with no emotion. He smiled at my denial.

"I saw that face you made when you just _touched _your face with the hand. Just tell me the truth. Now, let me ask again, how's the hand feeling?" Mike has always had a way with getting me emotion out.

"It hurts. Bad." I reply, truthfully. He smiled wider.

"That was good. You should try telling the truth more often. Makes you seem more like a real person, you know?"

"Yeah. I know." I answer. He looked at me, his smile turning into a frown.

"No. I don't think you do. You just lied again. You don't have to be the mighty, invincible brother all the time. Actually, I don't care if you _want _to be that. I don't care if you _decide _to be like that. I just want the truth, Leo. And it's _really _hard to get it from you." He told me. I looked down in shame.

"But Mike… I… I always thought I needed to be like that. I can try, for you. I can do it." I reply. He smirked the tiniest bit, letting me know he understood. "Can I tell you something?"

"Is it the truth?" He asked.

"Nothing but." I reply. Mike nods. "Thank you. I mean, for last night. I don't know why me and Don were fighting like that… We never have… But thank you. For stopping us and opening our eyes to the bigger picture." He smiled and full smile.

"No problem, bro. It is my job. I _am _the peacemaker you know!" We shared some small laughter. I pulled away from our moment reluctantly.

"Well, I am going to go watch Raph and Don spar a bit. You want to join?" I invite.

"Nahh… I am going to enjoy my time off from practicing. You go solo and be bored out of your mind by yourself. I am just going to go and relax." I am about to turn and leave, but he sets his hand on my arm. Right on the bite that I completely forgot about. I keep a straight face, even though pain is coming my waves. "Are we going to keep this conversation to ourselves?"

"That'd be nice." I reply. He smiles and takes his hand off my arm and walks away. I look down to my arm and see a big ugly bruise there. I thought back our talk about telling the truth. I looked to the direction my brother was then back to my arm.

This will be just one secret I will keep. Even if I have to lie to avoid my brothers finding out about it.

I head to the dojo.


	4. Chapter 4

(A/N: It's been a while, but I am finally done being busy. Well, at least, less busy than I was before. I finally have time to time some stuff for you all. This will be updated, and I have another one-shot treat to give you all sometime in the near future.)

Leo POV

I sat on the couch, toying with the bandage around my hand. I hissed in pain when my finger just barely brushed over the wound. Man, people are telling the truth when they say injuries hurt more the day after.

Well, practice ended over an hour ago. And now I am being forced to sit through Star Wars with Mikey, despite him knowing that I have lied to him so much. And the fact that I have not too much character within me, at least, not enough to keep up with that of Michelangelo. And also, there is the fact that I have watched this movie with Mikey millions of times. Yet, every time, he seems to be able to rant about the same things. Whether it is the camera angle, bad acting, or even a bad plot mistake, Mikey can always find something.

"Did you just hear that? I mean, even _I _could've brought more emotion into that than he did!" He went on. I sighed. Yeah, times are great while injured and spending time with your nearly equally wounded brother. Without warning, Mikey stood and ejected the tape from the VCR. I gave him a strange look before he sat, facing me, with his legs crossed.

"What…?" I asked, trailing off. He tilted his head at me, still completely silent. I didn't know what to say… I felt so… So _observed_. This was kind of… Awkward, you know? Being stared at in silence. It was like that for a few minutes before the awkwardness was even getting me to feel uncomfortable. "Why are you staring at me, Mikey?" This just caused his head to tilt more.

"I am observing your facial features. Get to know the truthful Leo so that I can pinpoint every lie you say to me." I gulp. "It's weird… You still have a… Familiar look on your face…" He brought up. I took that mention to stand. He reached out to grab me, but I pulled away.

"Mikey, I know you don't mean to, but you staring at me is just… Creepy. And very, very awkward." I inform him, being as truthful as possible. He pouts and gives me the saddest look ever. I hesitated sitting back down, but decide against it. He might find out too much if I go back. I sigh and walk to my room. He huffs and leans back into the cushions of the couch, disappointed. I walk up the stairs and swiftly open and my door and close it quickly. I lean against the wood, breathing heavily. Why am I out of breath, just walking up the stairs? Is something really wrong?

I shake my head and head over to my bed. I lie down and breathe into my cold pillow. I bury the rest of my face into the chilled fabric. After a few deep breathes, I am fast asleep.

TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT

A few weeks have passed since the lab incident. The cold I have is quite persistent, as is the bruising in my arm. My hand is healing up pretty nicely though, might I add. I should be getting the stitches out any time now. But something has changed; I have been getting an annoying itch on my arm during the past few days. But oh well. It should be fine.

I have finally been cleared to do open hand practice, as long as I do not go to the extreme, as I usually do. It is 'bad for my hand'. You know, personally, I think they are just saying that so they think that they are giving me a 'break'. I don't need breaks. Leaders don't take breaks; they need to be on full alert at all times.

But besides that point, I have been spending loads of time with Mikey. I never thought I could get this close to him before. I have always thought of him as an insensitive goofball, but I guess after all these years I have finally been proved wrong. He's been really coming through for me and the others, despite me still not telling him about the spider bite.

And also, since I still have not clued in at this… Things between me and Don are still sort of awkward after our argument. Yeah, it wasn't too big of a deal… But arguments are rare between us. I guess neither of us knows what to say.

Well, it's finally time to get the stitches out. It felt like years since I even got the injury. I smiled as I awoke that morning, and I hurried out of bed. I felt like a child on Christmas morning. I made a cup of tea and sat at the table, smiling and thinking about how easier taking care of my brothers will be without this injury hindering me. In mid-thought, Mikey entered the room and made his presence known by setting his hand on my shoulder.

"Are you excited, bro?" He asked. I grinned even wider and nodded. He took a seat next to me.

"Definitely. I can't wait to be able to do normal stuff with you guys again." I replied. He gave me a look.

"You mean, stuff _with us_ or stuff _for us_?" He questioned, knowing what I really meant with my answer. I gave him a small glare and he smirked. "I knew it. But then again, I know _everything_." He said with a wink. "You know, you can't always be the protector. You have to let us take care of ourselves once in a while." My hands shook.

"Mikey, you couldn't be more wrong." My tone was aggressive. His expression changed quickly. "If it weren't for me, then Master Splinter would've probably passed away many years before he did. If it weren't for me, then Don wouldn't be free to invent as he pleases, to study in things like he does. If it weren't for me, then Raph couldn't be the hothead he is. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be who you are. I love who you are, and you need to be who you are." My aggressive tone let off for that last statement, but it returned for the next. "You all _need _me." He surveyed my face, obviously seeing the truth in my eyes. His face fell, I saw tears brim in his eyes. The walls were completely down with that statement, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I don't think I have ever cried in front of Mikey, I almost felt embarrassed. But he didn't care. He put his hand on my shoulder again, this time pulling me into a hug. I didn't know whether to stay or leave at first, but then I knew staying was the right choice.

I wrapped my arms around my brother. He whispered apologies into my ear repeatedly. More tears came and I buried my face into Mikey's shoulder. It was a first, being in this situation with my brother, being completely open to him. But I didn't care anymore. I sobbed.

TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT

I was in the dojo, practicing. Don entered, with an awkward smile on his face. He held some medical appliances in his hands. I stopped doing what I was doing, knowing it was finally time to get the stitches out. I sat on a mat and he took a spot next to me. It was silent when he began to work on pulling the stitches out. I observed his facial expressions. I frowned.

"I'm sorry… About that night… You had a right to argue about my decision. I am sorry I argued with you about your own opinion… I know you are entitled to that, and I am sorry if I made you feel like you weren't." I broke the silence with an apology. He looked at me, somewhat surprised. He was finishing up with the stitches.

"Leo, you shouldn't be sorry. I argued about something that already happened. You can't change the past… I am sorry for yelling about something that couldn't be helped. I am sorry for trying to make it sound like you could travel in time or something…" He replied. We had a silent acceptance, and he finally finished. He set his hand on my arm. His expression turned to one of concern. He placed a hand on my forehead. "Leo, you're burning up! Get to bed, right now. Doctor's orders." I shook my head with a smirk, leaving the dojo. I headed to my room, and as I headed up the stairs, I felt a constant throbbing in my arm. Not only that, a constant pain in my chest. I shook it off and headed to my room. I laid in my bed, looking to the ceiling. I sighed, and decided to take a nap.

TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT

I awoke about an hour later, and my vision was blurred. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I felt like every part of me was on fire. I could just barely feel the sheets on my bed… Soaked, with my sweat. Pain filled my chest, and I could feel tears rushing from my eyes. Even the tears felt like ice to my burning face. But the pain, oh my god, the pain… It was so excruciating. I scrunched my eyes tightly shut. I felt my lips quiver. I knew what was going to happen.

The pain finally won.

I screamed.

(A/N: Intense? I must say so… I hope you enjoyed. REVIEW!)


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